Guys Who Like Musicals

Hey. We love you all. This week Dan and Joe a minute to reflect on the past year. From the last shows we saw (Unknown Solider and To Kill a Mockingbird), to Dan’s move across the country, to happy hour with Robyn Hurder, to complete despair and grief, you have all stuck with us during the worst year of our lives and certainly the worst in theatrical history. We know that life could be so much worse for us... we’re healthy, our families are healthy. our unemployment benefits just got extended... it looks like we’re gonna make it. We don’t know the suffering of so many who have lost friends and family members and people who are still recovering from the effects of COVID-19. The theater will return. And GAWD do we miss it... until then... we’re gonna keep taking to you, talking to people we love, and loving musicals. Thank you. Stay tuned for more antics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan and Joe share host duties this week with Podcast host and BPN co-founder Alan Seales of The Theater Podcast. Alan wears about as many hats as a milliner and his show is one of the OG Broadway podcasts. (He's had some epic guests go take a listen!) We talk about the creation of GWLM, the birth of Dan and Joe's love, the current state of Podcasting, and our hope for the future. Don't miss your chance to have the tables turned as we answer some questions for a change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey old friend!! Carrie St Louis is a rockstar AND an classically trained soprano. Carris is best known for her portrayal of ‘Glinda' in the Broadway and national touring company of Wicked, for her portrayal of ‘Sherrie' in the Broadway and Las Vegas companies of Rock of Ages, and as the closing Lauren in the Tony Award winning Best Musical, Kinky Boots. Dan and Carrie go WAAAAY back to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival back in their high school theater glory days. They've been circling each other for over a decade and then they auditioned together for the Anastasia national tour. Dan pooped his pants before he went into the audition room, but that's a story for another time. This was one of our most hilarious interviews. Along with Carrie being an absolute looney tune, she is insightful, introspective, thoughtful, and we loved chatting with her. After graduating from the Thornton School of Music at USC with a degree in Vocal Arts., she went on to play Amanda Bell in the world premiere of Justin Love at LA’s Celebration Theater, which received an LA Drama Critics Circle Nomination for Best Production. She then moved to Las Vegas to open Rock of Ages at The Venetian Hotel, for which she was awarded Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical by Broadway World Las Vegas. Carrie made her Broadway debut as Sherrie in Rock of Ages in 2014. Later that year, she went on the road as Glinda in the national tour of Wicked. In 2016, Carrie returned to Broadway, starring as Glinda at the Gershwin Theater, for which she was nominated for a Broadway.com Audience Choice Award for Best Female Replacement in a long running show.  Her sold-out solo cabaret show in LA, Here I Go Again, received a Broadway World nomination for Best Female Cabaret in 2012.  Her second solo show, Something Good, played to sold out crowds at New York’s iconic Feinstein’s/54 Below as well as cabaret clubs across the United States. Her third solo show, Always In The Ballpark, Usually In The Wrong Seat, is currently playing at 54 Below. In 2016, Carrie had the honor of performing "For Good" with her Wicked co-star, Jennifer DiNoia, for First Lady Michelle Obama at a United Nations event in New York City. She’s guested in concert with the band Foreigner, and she’s sung the National Anthem for the LA Dodgers, LA Lakers, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, New York Islanders and the PAC-12 Tournament. In 2017, she starred Off-Broadway as Annette Hargrove in Cruel Intentions: The Musical, based on the cult-classic film, which received an Outer Critics Circle nomination for Best Off-Broadway Musical. In the Spring of 2018, Carrie joined the company of the 2013 Tony winner for Best Musical, Kinky Boots, as Lauren. She was the final Lauren when the show closed in 2019 after six incredible years on Broadway. Carrie has appeared in multiple television shows. She played Becca Mainzer on Elementary (CBS), working alongside Lucy Liu, Jonny Lee Miller, and Jon Michael Hall. She also appeared as Alice on the hit TV show Younger (TVLand) opposite Sutton Foster. This summer, she can be seen on Blindspot (NBC). Carrie just wrapped an indie film titled The Blonde Experiment, which should be released in the coming year. Carrie was set to begin rehearsals for a brand new Off-Broadway show directed by Jeff Calhoun and written by famous author, Jodi Piccoult, called Between The Lines. Set to open at Second Stage Theater this summer, it is currently postponed to Spring 2021 due to Covid-19. Carrie is also a vocal coach who travels often for masterclasses while also maintaining a private studio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Michael Arden says this week, "There is not nation without culture." The Guys couldn't agree more. WELL here is another episode where Joe can't keep his cool. Spring Awakening and Once On This Island director Michael Arden IS HERE. Talk about a multi-hyphenate. Michael is an actor, stage director, film director, writer, musician, producer, singer, composer, and on and on and on, Michael is a beacon of creative light in our industry. WE LOVE HIM.  Dan gets to ask Michael a burning question that has been on his mind since he saw Michael Arden’s production of Spring Awakening back in 2015. Michael is full of incredible insight and thoughtful artistic conversation. Dan and Joe have always been huge fans Michael’s … From the early days of  We talk to Michael this week about how “the failures and foolishness lead us to the truth”, how you learn more from the flops and the failures than you do from the successes, to always embrace what is hard and run toward what is scary, and that “A laser only looks focus because of the space around it”… WHAT WE MEAN IS… become as well rounded as possible. Learn as much as you can. Michael received a scholarship to Interlochen Arts Academy as a theatre student, where he graduated in 2001. He was accepted on a full scholarship to the Juilliard School, where he was in the Drama Division's Group 34. He left Juilliard in 2003 to join the Broadway revival company of the musical Big River. Arden is a Tony-nominated director for his revivals of Spring Awakening and Once on This Island. He won the Ovation and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical for Spring Awakening. Once on This Island recently received the Tony Award for Best Revival. He has directed the Los Angeles premier of The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell, My Fair Lady at the Bay Street Theater, and has won an NAACP Award for his production of Merrily We Roll Along at the Wallis Annenberg, where he served as Artist in Residence. He most recently directed Annie at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. This past year he was at the helm of a new production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol starring Tony winner Jefferson Mays that was filmed and will hopefully be headed to Broadway next year.  As an actor, Michael has appeared on Broadway in The Times They Are A-Changin’ and Big River as well as in numerous films and television shows, most notably Anger Management, Bride Wars, and Source Code. He also created the role of Quasimodo for the American Premier of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He has toured and sung with Barbra Streisand and starred in Trevor Nunn’s production of Aspects of Love in London. Michael has a servant’s heart and has performed for several fundraisers for the Midland Area Aids Support and benefit concerts for World Aids Day, Covenant House, Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids and the St. Vincent’s School in Haiti. Check out The Forest of Arden for all things Michael Arden!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dogfight, Falsettos, a new EP out this week, movies, plays, musicals, Godspell... THE MAN IS NON STOP. Broadway multi-hyphenate Nick Blaemire is HERE!!! So you know that one friend you always ask for help? That one friend you constantly lean on who asks nothing in return? For us... That's Nick Blaemire. We have asked Nick Blaemire to "help us move" approximately a thousand times. "Hey Nick! We're writing a TV show.. will you help us?!" .. "Hey Nick! I wanna write a movie ... where do I start?!" .. "Hey Nick! Wanna come on our podcast..." Dan and Joe are MOOCHERS. Nick is the greatest guy. This guy writes musicals, tv shows, and movies, he acts, sings, plays music, writes music... he is one of the greatest, most talented men on the planet. And we're thrilled he's here this week. Thank you Nick. We love you. Nick Blaemire is a writer and performer based in Brooklyn. At 23 years old, Nick wrote the score to the musical Glory Days (book by James Gardiner, OBCR on Ghostlight Records). Since its historic one night engagement on Broadway, it has had over 40 productions all over the world. He has also written book, music and lyrics for four original musicals: A Little More Alive (commissioned by Broadway Across America, produced at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Kansas City Rep and Barrington Stage, optioned as a feature film); Soon (premiered at Signature Theatre, won the Stephen Sondheim Young Artist Citation); Fallout (with Kyle Jarrow, in development); and Space Dogs (with Van Hughes and Tina Landau, in development). Other writing projects include the film adaptation of the novel This Song Will Save Your Life and a romantic comedy for Universal Pictures. Nick has released two pop EPs, both available on iTunes and Spotify. As an actor, he recently completed the National Tour of Falsettos as Mendel and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his performance as Jonathan in the Off-Broadway Revival of Tick, Tick...Boom!. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"No one is worse off for hard work". The week's conversation with the lovely Kerstin Anderson is chock full of pull-quotes. Joe is Kerstin Anderson's stalker. He's been following her around New York for 6 years, lurking in audiences, admiring her performance. Is that weird? Dan and Kerstin toured the US with The Sound of Music and her clarion voice blew people away all over country. Currently, you can find Kerstin wandering around the Upper West Side and singing through Riverside Park. This week we chat about Vicki Clark, making masks in Vermont, and opening one of the hottest off-Broadway shows right as the world exploded. My Fair Lady, Unknown Solider, Light in the Piazza, The Sound of Music, Row... And she's just getting started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The definition of an enzyme is "a substance produced by a living organism which acts as a catalyst to bring about a specific biochemical reaction." This is the closest metaphor Joe could come up with to describe role of Casting Director. The Casting Director is the actor's best friend. Without a Casting Director, actors float around in a sea of troubles, singing their 16 bars into an abyss, waiting for someone to find them. Without Pat, Diane Paulus and the producers of WAITRESS wouldn't know Dan Tracy. Pat Goodwin is one of the kindest, sweetest, most collaborative casting directors in New York City. Dan and Joe have auditioned for him countless times and every time is a joy. Auditioning can really suck and Pat makes the process as fun, as helpful, and as welcoming as possible. We loved talking to him this week and we can't wait to get back in the room with him where we can sing, act, dance, sweat, sneeze, and spit all over each other. Pat has worked at Telsey and Company for nearly 15 years and worked on shows that include Waitress, The Last Five Years, A View From The Bridge, Jesus Christ Superstar Live, The Cher Show, and a million others. The team at Telsey + Company’s Broadway casting credits include basically every musical you've ever heard of. Hamilton, Pretty Woman: The Musical, Network, Be More Chill, American Son, Beetlejuice, Torch Song, Oklahoma!, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, Something Rotten, The King and I, Finding Neverland, An American in Paris, Kinky Boots, If/Then, Newsies, The Bridges of Madison County, Annie, Godspell, Evita, Bonnie and Clyde, Chinglish, Baby It’s You, Catch Me If You Can, Sister Act, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, The Normal Heart, Memphis, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Million Dollar Quartet, Elf, The Addams Family, 9-to-5, A Life in the Theatre, Reasons to be Pretty, Blithe Spirit, Next to Normal, Rock of Ages, Rent, Wicked, In the Heights, South Pacific, Hairspray, Legally Blonde, Company, November, Grey Gardens, The Color Purple, The Rocky Horror Show, All Shook Up, Tarzan, and Sweeney. Film credits include The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Friends with Kids, Jonah Hex, I Love You Philip Morris, The Other Woman, Margin Call, Mainstreet, Howl, Rachel Getting Married, Sex and the City: The Movie, Sex and the City 2, Across the Universe, Dan in Real Life, Pieces of April, Rent, and many more. Telsey + Company is also responsible for casting several national tours, off-Broadway productions, regional theatre productions, commercials, and television projects, including Smash for NBC and A Gifted Man for CBS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Caissie Levy will always be Elsa to us. Caissie's son Izaiah still watches the Frozen films and points to Elsa and says, "That's you Mommy!!"... BE STILL MY HEART!! Just to be clear, we don't sleep with the Elsa doll like Caissie son (well Dan probably does). We are so excited that Caissie is here with us today. Joe can barely contain his excitement to trap Caissie and force her to listen to his ramblings of fandom. She is one of the iconic voices of our generation and her "Let It Go" is THE "Let It Go"... you're welcome to fight us on that. We talk with her about vulnerability and how messiness is the key to greatness, how losing your voice can be the key to finding it, and the way to lead a Broadway show is to always learn from the people around you. Caissie has had an incredible career and she's just getting started. We are desperate for the revival of Caroline or Change coming back to Broadway this fall. Before she was Queen of Arendelle, Caissie recreated the iconic role of Fantine in the 2014 revival of Les Misérables on Broadway, and is known to New York and London audiences for originating the roles of Molly in Ghost, and Sheila in the Tony Award winning revival of Hair. Her other Broadway credits include Elphaba in the Broadway and Los Angeles production of Wicked, Penny in the Broadway, 1st National Tour and Toronto companies of Hairspray and Maureen in the national tour of Rent. Off-Broadway, she played Patti Davis and Julie Nixon in the world premiere of Michael John LaChiusa's First Daughter Suite at The Public Theater, and Sara in the Off-Broadway production of Murder Ballad. She has starred in the short films Options and Ms. Bula Banerjee, and guest starred opposite Sean Pertwee on Fox's Gotham. In concert, she headlined Carnegie Hall with the NY Pops, backed up Sir Rod Stewart during his Las Vegas residency, guested with The United States Military Academy at West Point, and performed solo shows to sold-out audiences across the US and the UK. Recordings inclue Frozen, Ghost, Hair, First Daughter Suite and over twenty singer/songwriter's albums, including her own EP, With You, available everywhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

KINKY BOOTS, FROZEN, THE BOOK OF MORMON.. Ever heard of it?!?! If it weren't for Brian Usifer, Elder Price, Elsa, and Charlie Price wouldn't know how to sing. Music director, pianist, orchestrator, arranger, producer and composer Brian Usifer was the man behind the batton for Joe in FROZEN and Dan in KINKY BOOTS. This man has had such a huge impact on both of our careers and we are thrilled that he took the time to chat with us. We talk about how your "fight or flight instinct" doesn't go hand in hand with auditioning, and the respect that Brian has for singers in auditions. From his collaborative piano background to wanting to be a pop star, Brian has done IT ALL. His new band alongside Bway heartthrob Colin Donnell, The Nineteen Twenty just released their debut EP "Chaos and Cocktails" available on all the streaming platforms. Brian loves wine and food as much as he loves music, so obviously we all got along. Look out for new musicals based on the music of Huey Lewis and The Avett Brothers with Brian leading the music team. Brian's credits include: Music Director of Disney's Frozen on Broadway. Prior to that he was the Music Director of Kinky Boots on Broadway, which won 6 Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Score. The cast recording won the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album. He is also the Associate Music Supervisor of The Book of Mormon on Broadway and on tour as well as Kinky Boots on Tour, London and in Toronto. Brian has played in the Broadway and off-Broadway orchestras of Spelling Bee, Avenue Q, Altar Boyz and The Book of Mormon. Credits also include more than 5 years of regional theatre including Follies (Barrington Stage Co.) Concerts include Clay Aiken “Tried and True DVD,” for PBS. As an arranger/orchestrator, Brian's projects have included Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money with music by Motown legend Lamont Dozier, NBC's The Wiz Live, A View From The River by Will Van Dyke and Jeff Talbott, Fantasy Football: the Musical?, by David Ingber, Pool Boy by Niko Tsakalakos and Janet Allard, The UnCivil War by Rick Kunzi, Barnstormer by Douglas Cohen and The First Snow by Niko Tsakalakos. Brian also provided additional arrangements for Kinky Boots and Frozen. Shows in development include Heart of Rock and Roll with music from the Huey Lewis catalog, Into The Wild with music and lyrics by Niko Tsakalakos and Janet Allard, Swept Away with music by the Avett Brothers, Galileo with music and lyrics by Zoe Sarnak and Michael Weiner with a book by Danny Strong. As a composer, Brian’s latest project is a songwriting collaboration with Colin Donnell called The Nineteen Twenty. Their first EP, Chaos + Cocktails, is available for sale on iTunes and everywhere music streams. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from SUNY Fredonia and a Masters degree in Collaborative Piano from NYU.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

THE Genie, Tony WINNER James Monroe Iglehart is here!!! Oh, man. You know him from ALADDIN, MEMPHIS, and HAMILTON, but what you need is his Sweeney, his Porgy, his Freestyle, and his deep love of comic books. We talk about it ALL this week. From sustaining a long run to auditioning for your best friend, Lin Manuel Miranda.. James leads us through his career in a way only the Genie can. He's hilarious, insightful, generous, and we're so grateful he took the time to talk with us. This Christmas James will lead the nation's top miniaturists as they vie to build festive mini-holiday houses. Each week, only one team will wow the spirited panel of judges, including designer Genevieve Gorder and miniatures experts June Clinkscales and Dave Asling, to advance to the next round. Top contenders will compete for a grand prize of $50,000 and the winning miniature will be replicated into a full-size vacation home. Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart is a native of the San Francisco Bay area. He most recently appeared on Broadway in two productions simultaneously - in the smash-hit Hamilton playing Lafayette/Jefferson, and with Freestyle Love Supreme as their special guest star. He made his Broadway debut in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Iglehart then originated the role of Bobby in Memphis on Broadway before landing the role of Genie in Aladdin. For his work as the Genie, James won both the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. James made his sold-out solo debut at 54 Below in a show entitled "How the Heck Did I Get Here?" He was brought back for a sold-out return engagement shortly thereafter. James has brought his act to concert venues across the country. He recurred on the Netflix series "Maniac" opposite Jonah Hill and Emma Stone, and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" as Coriolanus Burt, the rival of male protagonist Titus Andromedon played by Tituss Burgess. James also guest-starred on "At Home with Amy Sedaris", the Fox television shows "Perfect Harmony" and "Gotham" and on CBS' "Elementary" and "The Good Wife". He voices the role of Lance Strongbow on all three seasons of the hit Disney animated television show "Tangled." He recently made his feature debut opposite Richard Gere, Peter Dinklage and Jullianna Margulies in the "Three Christs".  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you heard of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA? Joe wants 2020 to be over for Taylor Iman Jones' sake. Broadway's newest IT girl was having the best year ever until COVID screwed everything up. HAMILTON and THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA were about to happen at the same time!! UGH. BUT all hope is not lost... 2021 is coming and so is Taylor Iman Jones. The star of HEAD OVER HEELS is hilarious, insightful, so real, so kind, and she put up with Dan for a year on the bus and truck tour of AMERICAN IDIOT so you know she's patient. We talk about unemployment, not taking auditions too seriously (but memorize your lines), and how meditation is everything ... Check it out! Taylor Iman Jones is an Actor, Singer, and Teaching Artist based out of New York City. When we're back in our theaters, you can see her as Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds in the LA production of HAMILTON the musical. She made her Broadway debut in Groundhog Day the Musical, and later originated the role of Mopsa in Head Over Heels. Off-Broadway, she was seen as Pat in the new musical Scotland, Pa. And outside of New York, she appeared in The Tale of Despereaux at The Old Globe in San Diego, and The Who's Tommy at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 2014, she performed as Extraordinary Girl in the National Tour of American Idiot. A Bay Area native, you could have seen her performing with American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Playhouse, Center Rep, Berkeley Playhouse, Bay Area Children’s Theater, and Ray of Light, to name a few. When offstage, Taylor is a passionate teaching artist, and enjoys playing her guitar. *Taylor has been announced to portray Andy Sachs in the upcoming Broadway bound production of The Devil Wears Prada.* Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

XOXO TV STAR!! Do you have any advice for Dan? It's gonna be alright Dan... Take a deep breath and listen to Jason. Smooth singing, handsome as hell, SUPER SWEET Jason Gotay sits down with us this and YES Joe and Dan hate auditioning after this guy. YOU try following that voice. SPIDERMAN and BRING IT ON star Jason Gotay is about to blow up with the brand new Gossip Girl HBOMax show. Look out. (Check out that opening night cast of BRING IT ON ... they're all STARS. It was just Jason's turn). We love this guy. He's so kind, passionate, talented, and vulnerable. We talk about leading a Broadway show at 23, the pain associated with being replaced in a show, how City Center Encore leads Jason to huge jobs, and how Jeremy Jordan taught us how to lead a show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are so grateful that the OG Jasmine is with us this week!! Kirsten Dunst had done a million movies and Courtney Reed felt like she was behind. ALADDIN star Courtney Reed is truly a jack of all trades. She's an entrepreneur (check out Gagged Chokers), and a member of the Broadway Princess Party as well as being one of the most sought after women on Broadway. She thinks that her audition for ALADDIN was easy, but it really took her five years, multiple readings, two out of town tryouts, and rounds of auditions before Broadway. We're so glad that they didn't cast Nicole Scherzinger. We talk with her about crazy audition stories, when Dan and Joe didn't book MISS SAIGON, how she wants to be Satine, and how a thumbs up from Lin Manuel Miranda is all you need... we get real about race in musical theater, putting in the work, and how you have to be kind to people. Long story short? If Courtney was an a*****e there is no way she would've been cast as Jasmine.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Guys are back with Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey writer Davy Nathan! We owe this interview to our good friend Shoshana Bean. Davy and Shoshana have been collaborators for years and we're so grateful she connected us with Davy. Ok... this movie is about to be a BIG DEAL. Jingle Jangle is out TODAY (breaking news podcast over here) on Netflix so be sure to get into the holiday spirit early. Davy and his writing partner, Philip Lawrence (of Bruno Mars fame) wrote 8 out of the 9 songs, John Legend wrote 1, and Davy and Phillip produced all 9.  Written and directed by David E. Talbert, the film is set in the town of Cobbleton and follows legendary toymaker Jeronicus Jangle (Forrest Whitaker), whose fanciful inventions burst with whimsy and wonder. But when his trusted apprentice (Keegan-Michael Key) steals his most prized creation, it’s up to his equally bright and inventive granddaughter (Madalen Mills) and a long-forgotten invention to heal old wounds. Our guest, Davy Nathan, collarborated with Bruno Mars' right hand man, Phillip Lawrence, on the songs for Jangle. It was his first movie, his first musical, his first movie-musical, and we certainly hope it's not his last. As a songwriter, producer, pianist and musical director, whose work was considered for a Grammy in 2017. As a producer and songwriter he's worked with: Rodney 'Darkchild' Jerkins, Toni Braxton, Mary J Blige, Jennifer Hudson, Robin Thicke, Tamar Braxton, Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds, Queen Latifah, Daya, Eric Benet and others. As a pianist and musical director he's toured the world with: Christina Aguilera, Toni Braxton, Patti LaBelle, Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds, Colbie Calliat, Natasha Bedingfield, Nicole Scherzinger, TLC, Sean Kingston, Brian McKnight, Jason Derulo, NKOTB and others. NOT A BIG DEAL!!!  This week we talk about ear training as a skill, writing a song in fifteen minutes, and what it was like to tour with Patti LaBelle. Listen in!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A day of peace.A day of pride.A day of justice. We have been denied. Let the new day dawn, Oh, Lord, I pray... We'll never get to heaven. Till we reach that day.” If you don’t know RAGTIME, get in the car, drive three hours and listen to every word. CHRISTIANE NOLL IS HERE!! She is a Tony nominee for the 2009 revival and Dan’s theatrical Mom. She (before COVID) was Cynthia Murphy in DEAR EVAN HANSEN on Broadway and was also seen featured in the original cast of Jekyll and Hyde. Joe was Younger Brother in college and it was the first time Dan saw Joe on onstage, it was love at first sight. Ragtime is an epic, powerful, Goosebump inducing show that is as relevant in 1975 (when the book was written) as it was in 1998 as it is in 2020. Go out and tell your story .. let it echo far and wide.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you seen cell block tango recently?!?!? POP, SQUISH, CICERO... Let's GO CHICAGO!! Arguably the best movie musical of all time (feel free to fight us).. We love Chicago. Dan and Joe danced in the ensemble of CHICAGO in college and they were BAD. But that's okay. We're thrilled that Broadway vet and Fosse superfan Tyler Hanes is here to talk with us about it!! Tyler has NINE Broadway credits to his name and a slew of TV credits including Jerry Orbach in the F/X sensation Fosse/ Verdon. Tyler gives us some incredible insight into the world of Bob Fosse and Ann Reinking, the CHICAGO film, and we're putting it out there that Tyler will be the next Billy Flynn when Broadway comes back. Tyler and Joe worked on a workshop with Graciela Daniele, who was Hunyak in the original production of CHICAGO in 1976. THAT'S CRAZY! Thanks for listening and if you haven't seen the Zeta Jones rip as Velma, stop what you're doing and watch Rob Marshall's perfect film.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey friends, no one is alone.... I WISH .. there wasn't a pandemic. But that's not what we're talking about this week. This week we're talking about INTO THE WOODS!! We're so grateful that our friend and casting director extraordinaire, Benton Whitley is with us to talk about his favorite show, INTO THE WOODS. There are so many great recordings available, but if you haven't seen Bernadette and Johanna Gleeson in the 1991 OG recording, STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING and go check it out. Joe loves the 2010 recording from Regent's Park in London as well. This show is the gateway drug to Stephen Sondheim. Some of the greatest lyrics in Sondheim's cannon are in the last 20 minutes of INTO THE WOODS. Check this out.."Moments in the Woods", into "Your Fault", then "Last Midnight", "No More" No One Is Alone" into "Children Will Listen." WHAT A LINEUP. We love this show and we hope you like our deep dive in this musical theater masterpiece. Listen in for Benton's story when he got to meet Steve... is LEGENDARY.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"And I love her so." We REALLY love the show this week. Joe's Broadway debut and favorite show ever, ONCE: THE MUSICAL. If you need a good cry you can check out the John Carney film on Amazon and iTunes. We relive Joe's glory days in the 2012 Tony Award-winning Best Musical. From the acapella Gold to Glen Hansard's excellent use of decrescendo, everything is perfect. Steve Kazee, Cristin Milioti, Paul Nolan, Arthur Darvill, Laura Dreyfuss, Joe Carroll. Dan snuck in to see the Broadway production four times. We relive so many wonderful memories of this show and investigate the film in more detail... Remember that ending? The Piano? CRYING WE'RE ALL CRYING.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

YE GODS Dan and Joe are FIGHTING. Dan loves THE MUSIC MAN, Joe can’t stand it. Tune in this week sports fans, we're fighting. We break down all the wonderful things in THE MUSIC MAN. Yes, we talk about the sexy Hugh Jackman and the stunning Sutton Foster, but we also nerd out about Kristin Chenoweth, Rebecca Luker, Barbara Cook, and Robert Preston. Every single song in THE MUSIC MAN slaps. Yup. We said it. Does Shapoopi make sense? NOPE. But The Beatles love THE MUSIC MAN so why shouldn’t you??  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

WILL BURTON IS BACK!! Friend of the pod and all around winner, Will Burton, has returned to nerd-out with us about HELLO, DOLLY! That's Hello Comma Dolly Exclamation Point. DON'T YOU FORGET IT. In case you're wondering, HELLO, DOLLY! is a musical about a woman and her favorite restaurant. In college, Will had to write a 40 page paper on HELLO, DOLLY! (that's musical theater college for ya) and he appeared as Ambrose in the recent revival with DAME Bette Midler. Will has been in three different professional productions of HELLO, DOLLY! so we thought it only right to have him back as the resident expert. We celebrate the magnificent Jerry Herman this week, the composer of HELLO, DOLLY!, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, MAME, among others, who we lost in December of 2019 at the age of 88. Our favs this week include It Only Takes a Moment, Before The Parade Passes By, and Gavin Creel's "OUT THERE... there's a world outside of Yonkers." After this week we know for sure... if we have to dig ditches for the rest of my life, we will be a ditch diggers who once had a wonderful day. COME ON BARNABY WE'RE GOING TO NEW YORK!!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices